The borders that previously held back global sales have disappeared in the current years. Cross-border B2C ecommerce payment strategies are expected to rise to a record of $736 billion by 2023. But while access to a global market of billions is attractive, their limitless customer base brings an almost equal number of challenges, especially with how customers prefer to pay. This is why merchants must accept the local payment methods (LPMs) that customers use most frequently.
The Growth of Cross-border E-commerce Offers Many Opportunities:
The frequent growth in e-commerce makes expanding to other markets an attractive proposition for online businesses. It gives merchants more opportunities to tap into a newer customer base, develop new partnerships, increase sales and become a global brand. If you own an ecommerce business, cross-border sales are a great way to business expand into international markets. But you have to adapt to local market conditions and optimize the shopping experience for customers, depending on where they live and shop. Choosing a capable payments partner to support you through seamless payments and cutting-edge technology is critical to your international expansion strategy. Adopting new payment technologies should be an integral part of a company’s overall strategy for global expansion.
Below are a few strategies to help you expand your business into other markets.
Optimize your payment system to power growth-
To operate in multiple markets, you need to be able to process payments in local currencies and offer the most famous and convenient payment methods. These could be credit cards, digital wallets, Buy now Pay later, or other payment gateway methods. But supporting multiple payment methods needs to walk through a lot of complexity. Hence, working with a payments partner that understands your business is necessary.
A global payment service provider can help you quickly add local payment methods in different markets as and when needed. They can help you to integrate various payment methods through one integration and offer you a reliable payment infrastructure that can support large transaction volumes. Using a single payment platform to manage your payments can boost conversion rates and provide more control over the business. Tech support for payment methods is also critical to troubleshooting customer issues, reducing barriers to purchase, and enhancing the overall customer experience.
Develop a robust risk management strategy to prevent fraud-
When you expand into new markets, you need more than understanding your customer’s payment preferences. It is challenging to understand the risk landscape too. Understand each market’s fraud and risk elements and set up market-specific risk control models. Develop a solid risk management strategy that uses AI and machine learning to monitor and prevent payment fraud.
Optimize your payment authentication process across all payment methods and currencies you offer. Apply a Strong Authentication System and 3DS2 authentication to activate payments securely. This will help you maximize the authorization rates and keep the overall experience enjoyable.
Embrace new payments technology-
Payments need technology to improve performance and security while making it easier for consumers to shop and pay. There has been various innovation in the payment sector, and embracing new technologies means embracing new opportunities. Hence, you must influence technology to get the most out of the payments. Keeping up with local payment trends and adopting the latest payment technologies can help offer your customers an enhanced shopping experience in different markets.
Experiment with payment solutions that complement new business strategies-
Brands need to get innovative, improve their local user operations, and expand local channels to establish a strong presence in local markets. Payments are among the most crucial channels that connect merchants daily to local consumers. Creating a rich payment experience helps you to implement local marketing strategies more effectively and provides a gateway to global markets.
You may plan to open a physical and online store. Selecting cross-channel payment solutions that are quick and easy to implement will encourage your payment efficiency both in-store and online. You can also use analytics to map your payment data and spot trends, which can be used to boost the shopping experience. Access to a capable technical team and supporting staff will also help you modify your offerings to the markets you operate in.
Why Should You Go Global With Your Business?
Expanding your business toward the international market is necessary because of the following reasons-
Potential for growth-
Foreign territories offer promising opportunities for growth, which becomes leverage for Indian businesses. The high purchasing power of consumers in foreign markets can increase the profitability of your products. Also, there is a prevailing misconception that international ventures are only meant for large organizations. However, small and medium-sized businesses can grow in foreign markets and sell their products to international customers.
Higher revenue and profitability-
Many business owners feel their business growth has hibernated due to the limitations of the market. Without the next growth plan in mind, their sales and profit scores reflect nearly the same numbers over time. This calls for extending their reach to international customers and exposing the business to potential customers.
Competitive advantage-
Global expansion of your business is a way to achieve a competitive advantage; specifically, if you sell online and prospective buyers, you can compare your products with competitors from various countries. The more countries you will trade in, the more advantage you can have over the native competitors.
Easy to counter seasonal demands-
If your business seems affected by fluctuations in the market because of seasonal demand cycles, you can even out the ROI by exploring international markets with counter-cyclical fluctuations.
Understanding the foreign competition-
You will learn to compete against foreign companies by entering the global market. If possible and sustainable, you can take the battle to them on their ground. If these reasons are sufficient to convince you to start and plan for global business growth, wait a while to reach the actionable part.